A Thanksgiving Holiday, Part 4

11/24/16

My last day with Gary and Sons was spent trying to clean up on some missing targets, so we started at Estero Llano Grande hoping to catch one of the Screech Owls peeking out of their box.  It was a foggy morning, and the dew on all the spider webs looked like little pearls covering everything!  The Bufflehead showed well on Dowitcher Pond on the way to the Alligator Lake area, but the owls were not there (we DID manage to spot a White-tipped Dove for the boys, and Gary found one of the Pauraques right next to the trail!).  We figured the reported Sage Thrasher was a long shot, but we hiked up to the levee and then took the Camino de Aves Trail back, and back at the headquarters ran into Park Hosts Doug and Huck, who offered to take us back to the Tropical Zone to try for THAT owl (after enjoying a point-blank Green Kingfisher from the deck)!  He wasn't there, either, but we at least got a glimpse of the Beardless Tyrannulet and a cracking view of the Altamira Oriole for Gary!

Dew-covered spider webs

Bufflehead

Jesse tries shooting the nearly invisible Pauraque (below) with his IPhone!

Foggy view from the levee

Habitat along the Camino de Aves Trail

A visiting birder shows off his photos of the Laredo Amazon Kingfisher!

Cooperative Green Kingfisher

We run into Benton Basham back in the Tropical Zone!

 

Altamira Oriole

Giant Swallowtail

  

On the way to Santa Ana we checked out Border Road and miraculously picked up the Burrowing Owl AND a visual on the Sprague's Pipit, then headed over to Santa Ana for a try at the Olive Sparrow, Cave Swallow, and a long shot at Fulvous Whistling Duck.  Dipped on two of the targets (although we heard the sparrow lisping), but another birder reported Cave Swallows down the tour road, so the guys ended up climbing the Tree Tower and getting a flyover Cave while I checked the butter action (which was nuts - best one was a Glazed Pellicia). 

Burrowing Owl near Santa Ana

Texas Spiny Lizard

 Female Common Green Darner

Zebra Heliconian

Glazed Pellicia (below also)

Mob of ducks on Willow Lake guarded by a Kiskadee...

We then headed to Bentsen for a last ditch effort at the Olive Sparrow; Ranger Roy suggested staking out the drip at the Gatehouse Feeders, as they would occasionally come in, but the only takers were Green Jays and the occasional Red-winged Blackbirds and Great-tailed Grackles making chests at each other!  The Chachalacas were as entertaining as ever, and just before we finally called it quits a nice Clay-colored Thrush gave a great (but brief) look!

Chachalacas

Fluffy Green Jays at the drip at Bentsen

Great-tailed Grackles making chests at each other

Bird List:

  Black-bellied Whistling-Duck         

  Greater White-fronted Goose          

  Gadwall                              

  Mottled Duck                         

  Blue-winged Teal                     

  Northern Shoveler                     

  Northern Pintail                     

  Green-winged Teal                    

  Bufflehead                           

  Ruddy Duck                           

  Plain Chachalaca                      

  Pied-billed Grebe                    

  Great Blue Heron                     

  Great Egret                          

  Snowy Egret                          

  Yellow-crowned Night-Heron           

  White-faced Ibis                     

  Turkey Vulture                       

  White-tailed Kite                    

  Sharp-shinned Hawk                    

  Harris's Hawk                        

  White-tailed Hawk                    

  Red-shouldered Hawk                  

  Red-tailed Hawk                      

  American Coot                        

  Black-necked Stilt                   

  American Avocet                      

  Spotted Sandpiper                    

  Greater Yellowlegs                   

  Lesser Yellowlegs                    

  Least Sandpiper                      

  Long-billed Dowitcher                

  Rock Pigeon                           

  Mourning Dove                        

  Inca Dove                            

  Common Ground-Dove                   

  White-tipped Dove                    

  Burrowing Owl                        

  Common Pauraque                      

  Buff-bellied Hummingbird             

  Ringed Kingfisher                    

  Belted Kingfisher                    

  Green Kingfisher                     

  Golden-fronted Woodpecker            

  Ladder-backed Woodpecker             

  Crested Caracara                     

  American Kestrel                     

  Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet        

  Black Phoebe                         

  Eastern Phoebe                        

  Vermilion Flycatcher                 

  Great Kiskadee                       

  Couch's Kingbird                     

  Loggerhead Shrike                    

  White-eyed Vireo                     

  Green Jay                            

  Horned Lark                          

  Tree Swallow                         

  Cave Swallow                         

  Black-crested Titmouse               

  Verdin                               

  House Wren                           

  Carolina Wren                         

  Blue-gray Gnatcatcher                

  Ruby-crowned Kinglet                 

  Clay-colored Thrush                  

  Curve-billed Thrasher                 

  Long-billed Thrasher                 

  Northern Mockingbird                 

  European Starling                    

  American Pipit                       

  Sprague's Pipit                      

  Orange-crowned Warbler               

  Common Yellowthroat                  

  Yellow-rumped Warbler                

  Olive Sparrow                         

  Northern Cardinal                    

  Red-winged Blackbird                 

  Great-tailed Grackle                 

  Altamira Oriole                       

  Lesser Goldfinch                     

  House Sparrow                        

 

82 SPECIES

A Thanksgiving Holiday, Part 3

11/23/16

Had a fabulous chase day with Gary et al, starting on Old Port Isabel Road; unfortunately the Aplomado Falcon wasn't at his normal platform, but a young Peregrine had us fooled for a minute...  The target Cassin’s Sparrow popped up on a bush a little ways down, and at the turnaround point (the condition of the road was pretty bad) a Sprague’s Pipit flew overhead! 

The guys along Old Port Isabel Road (and this was the decent part...)

Backtracking and then blasting up to South Padre via SR48 (they opted not to stop at the boatramp seeing as they already had the oystercatcher), we went straight to the Bay Access Flats, and thankfully the water was out and the birds very approachable!  Unfortunately the only plovers to show were Black-bellied, but the guys were very happy with Sandwich and Royal Terns, Black Skimmers, Willets, Sanderlings, Western Sandpipers, and especially a Marbled Godwit (and I was very happy with the lingering Red Knot :-))!  Having birded in Florida, there were only a handful of targets they were after, so we headed to the boardwalk after that to try for Clapper Rail, and as per usual, they eventually sounded off (along with a Least Bittern) but never showed themselves. 

Part of the bird mob on the flats

Cooperative Tricolored Heron on the boardwalk

From there we headed down SR100 for a last-ditch search for the Aplomado, so I had the eagle-eyed guys yell if they saw a suspicious bird (as traffic along that road goes lickety-split and pulling over can be dangerous)!  Didn't take long, so I careened off, we got the scope out, and sire enough, a bona fide Aplomado was sitting on one of the crossbars very close to one of the many Ospreys!  As the guys were enjoying him, I was checking out the wetland that happened to be there when one of their other targets (and a tricky one at that) flew by:  Gull-billed Tern!  I was excited about the Sandhill Cranes, but that was a common bird back home for them! :-)

VERY distant view of an Aplomado Falcon

From there we backtracked to Laguna Atascosa where the feeders were kinda quiet, but in wandering the butterfly garden an Altamira Oriole came tearing in!  The boys got a great look, but by the time Gary caught up with us (thanks to the radio) the bird just took off! :-(  A skulky Long-billed Thrasher was a nice consolation prize before we meandered over to Kiskadee Trail, and again after we split up, the boys called us back:  they had found the Tropical Parula in a feeding flock (which also included a Nashville Warbler)!  We heard another Beardless Tyrannulet but couldn't pin him down, and the boys also flushed a Pauraque, which was rather anticlimactic after seeing the bird at Estero so close!  Over at Osprey Overlook a careful sort through the mob of waterfowl could produce no Eurasian Wigeon (plus the shelter was overrun with bees), so we headed on to the area west of Rio Hondo where Mountain Plovers had been sighted during the LRGV Bird Festival (after negotiating the detour around Rio Hondo itself).

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher heading in to Laguna Atascosa

Pauraque on Kiskadee Trail

From FM 508 we took FM 507 north to FM 1599, along which the plovers had been reported.  Again, we didn't have to go far before a flock of Killdeer flew across, and in amongst them were a couple of smaller, all brown birds!  With the scope we were able to get great views, and a few Long-billed Curlews were an added bonus!

Bird List:

  American Wigeon                      

  Northern Shoveler                    
  Northern Pintail                     
  Redhead                              
  Lesser Scaup                         
  Red-breasted Merganser                
  Ruddy Duck                           
  Plain Chachalaca                     
  Pied-billed Grebe                    
  Double-crested Cormorant             
  American White Pelican               
  Brown Pelican                        
  Least Bittern                        
  Great Blue Heron                     
  Great Egret                           
  Snowy Egret                          
  Little Blue Heron                    
  Tricolored Heron                     
  Reddish Egret                        
  Cattle Egret                         
  Green Heron                          
  Black-crowned Night-Heron            
  White Ibis                           
  Roseate Spoonbill                     
  Black Vulture                        
  Turkey Vulture                       
  Osprey                               
  Northern Harrier                     
  Harris's Hawk                        
  White-tailed Hawk                    
  Red-tailed Hawk                      
  Clapper Rail                         
  Common Gallinule                     
  American Coot                        
  Sandhill Crane                       
  Black-bellied Plover                 
  Killdeer                              
  Mountain Plover                      
  Greater Yellowlegs                   
  Willet                               
  Lesser Yellowlegs                    
  Long-billed Curlew                   
  Marbled Godwit                       
  Ruddy Turnstone                      
  Red Knot                             
  Sanderling                           
  Dunlin                               
  Western Sandpiper                    
  Laughing Gull                        
  Ring-billed Gull                      
  Gull-billed Tern                     
  Caspian Tern                         
  Forster's Tern                       
  Royal Tern                           
  Sandwich Tern                        
  Black Skimmer                        
  Rock Pigeon                          
  White-winged Dove                    
  Mourning Dove                        
  Inca Dove                            
  White-tipped Dove                    
  Common Pauraque                      
  Belted Kingfisher                     
  Golden-fronted Woodpecker            
  Ladder-backed Woodpecker             
  Crested Caracara                     
  American Kestrel                     
  Aplomado Falcon                      
  Peregrine Falcon                     
  Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet        
  Eastern Phoebe                       
  Vermilion Flycatcher                 
  Great Kiskadee                       
  Couch's Kingbird                     
  Scissor-tailed Flycatcher            
  Loggerhead Shrike                     
  White-eyed Vireo                     
  Blue-headed Vireo                    
  Green Jay                            
  Horned Lark                          
  Black-crested Titmouse               
  Verdin                               
  House Wren                           
  Marsh Wren                           
  Bewick's Wren                        
  Ruby-crowned Kinglet                 
  Curve-billed Thrasher                
  Long-billed Thrasher                 
  Northern Mockingbird                 
  European Starling                    
  American Pipit                       
  Sprague's Pipit                      
  Orange-crowned Warbler                
  Nashville Warbler                    
  Common Yellowthroat                  
  Tropical Parula                      
  Cassin's Sparrow                     
  Savannah Sparrow                     
  Northern Cardinal                    
  Red-winged Blackbird                 
  Eastern Meadowlark                   
  Great-tailed Grackle                 
  Altamira Oriole                      
  House Sparrow                        
 
104 SPECIES

A Thanksgiving Holiday, Part 2

11/22/16

For our second day of this adventure, we headed out to Salineno, Falcon State Park, and stopped at Bentsen on the way home.  Couldn't find any seedeaters and no Muscovies flew by, but we did have nice looks at a Ringed Kingfisher and a couple of Gray Hawks, and one of the guys spotted a Zone-tailed Hawk from Merle and Lois' yard!  Everyone (including Merle and Lois) was disappointed that neither oriole put in an appearance, but we concluded that it was either due to a) the Sharp-shinned Hawk that was terrorizing the joint (and putting on some great aerial performances while chasing Red-winged Blackbirds. ;-)), or b) it simply hadn't gotten cold enough yet, and the orioles tend to come in when it's too cold for their natural nectar sources to produce anything.

Looking for seedeaters along the Rio Grande

Checking upriver for ducks and pigeons 

Green Jay at Merle and Lois' feeders

The Dump Road was very quiet, but thankfully Falcon was more productive: several Cactus Wrens sat right up along with a couple of Black-throated Sparrows, a Roadrunner performed famously right next to the car (never mind I was messin' with him by cooing :)), and in the primitive camping area one little bush gave us cracking views of Pyrrhuloxia, Verdin, and my first ever Black-tailed Gnatcatchers for the park!

Cactus Wren going into Falcon State Park

Roadrunner

We went back to Salineno for one last river/feeder watch, then headed back towards the Inn, stopping at Bentsen on the way in hopes of an Altamira Oriole at least, but Gary managed to spot a Clay-colored Thrush while I was checking us in, and thanks to a tip from Ranger Roy at the Gatehouse Feeders we picked up a wintering Groove-billed Ani!  On the way home we stopped at the Green Parakeet staging area at 10th and Dove to at least pick up ONE more lifer!

A Chachalaca waits (im)patiently as the Gatehouse Feeders get refilled...

Plain Chachalaca

Bird List:

  Mottled Duck                         

  Plain Chachalaca                     

  Double-crested Cormorant             

  Great Blue Heron                     

  Great Egret                          

  Snowy Egret                          

  Cattle Egret                         

  Turkey Vulture                       

  Osprey                               

  Sharp-shinned Hawk                   

  Cooper's Hawk                         

  Harris's Hawk                        

  White-tailed Hawk                    

  Gray Hawk                            

  Zone-tailed Hawk                      

  Red-tailed Hawk                      

  Rock Pigeon                          

  Eurasian Collared-Dove               

  White-winged Dove                    

  Mourning Dove                        

  Inca Dove                            

  Greater Roadrunner                   

  Groove-billed Ani                    

  Buff-bellied Hummingbird             

  Ringed Kingfisher                    

  Golden-fronted Woodpecker            

  Ladder-backed Woodpecker             

  Crested Caracara                     

  American Kestrel                     

  Green Parakeet                       

  Black Phoebe                         

  Eastern Phoebe                        

  Vermilion Flycatcher                 

  Great Kiskadee                       

  Tropical Kingbird                    

  Loggerhead Shrike                     

  White-eyed Vireo                     

  Green Jay                            

  Tree Swallow                         

  Black-crested Titmouse               

  Verdin                               

  House Wren                           

  Bewick's Wren                        

  Cactus Wren                          

  Blue-gray Gnatcatcher                

  Black-tailed Gnatcatcher             

  Ruby-crowned Kinglet                 

  Long-billed Thrasher                 

  Northern Mockingbird                 

  European Starling                    

  Orange-crowned Warbler               

  Common Yellowthroat                  

  Yellow-rumped Warbler                 

  Lark Sparrow                         

  Black-throated Sparrow               

  Northern Cardinal                    

  Pyrrhuloxia                          

  Red-winged Blackbird                 

  Great-tailed Grackle                 

  House Sparrow                        

 

60 SPECIES